NAMS THANKS & SO LONG. With mixed feelings of gratefulness, pride, and sadness, I would like to share with you that I will step down as executive director of VietAID on January 7, 2015. I have accepted an appointment to serve as Assistant Secretary of Business Development in the administration of our Governor-elect, Charlie Baker and Lt. Governor-elect Karyn Polito, for both of whom I have tremendous respect and admiration. To have served as Executive Director of VietAID these past four years has been an amazingly rewarding experience for me. I am grateful to the board of directors, staff members, community and government partners, funders, volunteers, and supporter who have helped to make my time here productive and successful in serving our Dorchester community and Vietnamese-Americans throughout the state. I am so proud that together, we have transformed VietAID from a struggling ethnic community development corporation to a vibrant nonprofit that everyone looks to for anything remotely related to Vietnamese in Massachusetts. We are now serving more Vietnamese and non-Vietnamese than ever. And I am sad not to continue having the opportunity to be directly involved with our community daily, especially with our young people. I will miss the heart-warming smiles of VietAID’s Au-Co preschoolers. In 2014 Au-Co has grown 60% with children from diverse backgrounds. Four years ago, our after-school program could help only middle school students; it has now expanded to include students from first graders to high school seniors, and its curriculum provides even more enrichment activities from violence prevention to music to leadership workshops. The students are my inspiration. Our new housing development at Four Corners has set a state record of how creative and quickly VietAID can develop affordable housing. Building housing and providing housing counseling have given many community residents decent places to live while helping to revitalize the Fields Corner/Dorchester neighborhoods. Our Vietnamese community has also become more engaged in civic activities. The numbers of Vietnamese registered voters and actual voters have steadily increased over the past four years. We spearheaded the efforts to re-establish the Fields Corner Civic Association with active community members. Our VATV on Boston Neighborhood Network has not only been a voice for the Vietnamese community, but also a bridge to create better understanding between us and our friends. We have established more collaborative relationships with many community based organizations to carry out our mission of building a strong and contributing Vietnamese-American community and a vibrant Fields Corner neighborhood. The Freedom public art project will contribute to making Fields Corner, not just a T stop, but a destination for culture and business. And we continue to work with foundations, city and state agencies to assist Vietnamese entrepreneurs, especially nail salon owners and workers. With VACA-VietAID strategic partnership beginning in 2012, the goal of having all needed services for our communities under one roof that VietAIDs founders set out 20 years ago has been achieved. Our community center has truly become a multigenerational and multicultural home with numerous social, cultural, and educational programs for everyone in Dorchester. Just last month, VietAID provided space for the newly formed Vietnamese Performing Art Club to have its inaugural concert and dance. This is the latest illustration of VietAID collaborating with other organizations to bring us together as one community. VietAID’s finances are also in much better shape and more stable than four years ago. We have achieved more foundation support and individual donors than ever. Our budget is having more contributions to our preschool, youth programs, and other business activities. While we always have to keep a close watch over our finances, I am confidence that our worst days are over and our best days are yet to come. Your strong supports have helped to improve many lives and give hope to our immigrant community that like many before them, current immigrants will achieve the promise of America. I am forever grateful for this. While I am sad to be leaving VietAID, I fully intend to stay involved in our community and look forward to great things from the organization and those it serves. I will work closely with the interim ED to ensure a smooth transition. I am very grateful to the Governor-elect for his confidence in me and this recognition of the contributions of the Vietnamese American community to Massachusetts. I believe that under the Governor-elects leadership, our state will achieve even greater things and I am honored, humbled and excited to be a part of his administration that will create opportunities for all of us to be great. Thank you for being my friends. Best wishes and God bless.
Posted on: Sun, 04 Jan 2015 17:35:47 +0000
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